UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
ILLINOIS  HISTORY 
.  ,f*D  LINCOLN  COLLECTIONS 


CHICAGO  SCHOOL  OF 
CIVICS  AND  PHILANTHROPY 


SPECIAL  BULLETIN  NOVEMBER.  1017 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION 

OF 

CITY  GOVERNMENT 


Address  of  Professor  Charles  E.  Merriam, 
of  the  University  of  Chicago 


Before  the  Graduating  Class  of  the  Chicago  School  of 
Civics  and  Philanthropy,  June  1,  1917 


Illinois  History  and 
Lincoln  collections 


INCORPORATION 

The  Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  began  its  work  in 
1903  as  the  Chicago  Institute  of  Social  Science.  The  trustees  of 
Chicago  Commons  Association  were  responsible  for  its  management 
from  January  5,  1906,  until  May  8,  1908,  when  it  was  incorporated  as 
Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy  under  the  general  laws  of 
Illinois  “to  promote  through  instruction,  training,  investigation  and 
publication  the  efficiency  of  civic,  philanthropic  and  social  work  and 
the  improvement  of  living  and  working  conditions.” 


BOARD  OF  TRUSTEES 


Jane  Addams. 
Alfred  L.  Baker. 
Mrs.  Emmons  Blaine. 
Edward  O.  Brown. 
Charles  R.  Crane. 

Victor  Elting. 
Bernard  Flexner. 
Willard  E.  Hotchkiss. 


David  Kinley. 
Julia  C.  Lathrop. 
Julian  W.  Mack. 
Charles  E.  Merriam 
Ralph  Norton. 
Allen  B.  Pond. 
Julius  Rosen wald. 
Edward  L.  Ryerson. 


OFFICERS  OF  INSTRUCTION  AND  ADMINISTRATION 

Graham  Taylor, 

President. 

Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge, 

Dean. 

Edith  Abbott, 

Director,  Department  of  Social  Investigation. 

Victor  Yarros, 

Staff  Lecturer,  Local  Government. 

A.  Kenyon  Maynard, 

Business  Manager. 

Elizabeth  Susan  Dixon, 

Registrar. 

Maud  E.  Lavery, 

Librarian. 


2 


THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  CITY  GOVERNMENT 


CHARLES  E.  MERRIAM 

Professor  of  Political  Science,  The  University  of  Chicago 


When  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic  organized  this  govern¬ 
ment,  there  was  no  city  problem.  The  entire  urban  population 
of  the  United  States  in  1790  was  130,000  or  3.3  per  cent  of 
the  total  population.  The  Fathers  were  not  familiar  with  the 
complicated  questions  of  city  government  and  made  no  provision 
for  their  solution.  Indeed,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  a  believer  in 
rural  democracy  and  opposed  to  the  building  up  of  cities.  Upon 
one  occasion  he  said:  “If  our  people  here  are  ever  piled  up  on 
top  of  each  other  as  they  are  in  Europe,  we  will  be  as  corrupt 
as  they  are.”  Down  to  1850  there  was  no  material  increase  in 
city  population,  nor  had  urban  problems  developed. 

Beginning  with  the  mid-century,  however,  the  population  of 
cities  began  to  increase  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  by  1870  the  proper 
government  of  our  urban  centers  had  begun  to  be  a  serious 
question.  The  original  type  of  government  had  the  unitary 
form,  consisting  of  a  council  and  a  few  officers  selected  by  the 
council.  By  1870  this  simple  organization  had  been  disintegrated, 
and  the  legislative  part  of  the  government  had  been  divided  into 
two  branches  in  imitation  of  the  federal  plan.  The  mayor  had 
been  made  an  independent  elective  officer.  Numerous  other  elec¬ 
tive  administrative  officials  had  been  provided;  and  to  make  mat¬ 
ters  worse,  in  many  instances  important  branches  of  the  admin¬ 
istration,  such  as  the  police  and  parks,  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  elective  boards  of  three  or  five.  The  rapid  growth  of  cities 
had  created  new  functions  which  required  new  powers.  Neces¬ 
sity  for  granting  this  authority  to  the  cities  had  created  an  im¬ 
mense  amount  of  special  legislation,  which  both  burdened  the 
lawmakers  and  oppressed  the  city.  In  the  time  of  Andrew 
Jackson  the  spoils  system  had  been  adopted,  and  cities  as  well 
as  other  organs  of  government  were  administered  on  the  basis 
of  the  old  maxim  “To  the  victor  belong  the  spoils.” 

Since  1870  the  reconstruction  of  American  city  government 
has  proceeded  at  a  rapid  rate.  In  the  first  place,  a  widespread 


movement  has  been  initiated  and  carried  through,  providing  for 
a  higher  degree  of  local  autonomy.  The  right  of  a  city  to 
govern  itself  in  local  affairs  has  made  rapid  progress  in  the  last 
generation.  Sometimes  it  has  been  accomplished  by  a  constitu¬ 
tional  amendment  guaranteeing  municipal  home  rule ;  in  other 
instances  by  broad  grants  of  statutory  authority ;  and  in  still 
other  cases  the  powers  of  the  city  have  been  extended  through 
friendly  interpretation  of  the  courts.  While  the  problem  of 
municipal  home  rule  is  far  from  settled  at  the  present  time,  never¬ 
theless,  it  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  fundamentals 
of  reconstruction,  that  cities  must  be  given  broader  powers  than 
they  now  possess. 

Another  line  of  approach  has  been  a  method  of  selecting 
public  officials.  This  has  taken  two  principal  forms :  first,  a  limi¬ 
tation  of  the  number  of  elective  offices;  and,  second,  the  elimina¬ 
tion  of  the  national  party  emblem,  circle,  or  designation  upon 
the  local  ballot.  The  purpose  of  this  latter  effort  was  to  enable 
the  municipality  to  vote  squarely  upon  municipal  issues.  It,  is 
designed  to  eliminate  the  national  party  so  far  as  possible  from 
local  conditions.  This  movement  has  spread  rapidly  over  the 
United  States,  is  now  in  effect  in  all  but  a  relatively  few  of  our 
municipalities,  and  may  fairly  be  characterized  as  one  of  the 
fundamentals  in  the  reconstruction  of  American  municipal 
government. 

The  third  line  of  progress  has  been  in  the  direction  of  the 
merit  system.  The  vicious  effects  of  the  spoils  system  upon 
government  were  most  easily  and  first  observed  in  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  cities.  It  early  became  evident  in  congested  centers  that 
qualified  public  servants  holding  office  continuously  without  re¬ 
gard  to  political  conditions  were  absolutely  indispensable.  Con¬ 
sequently,  the  movement  for  civil  service  reform  developed  with 
great  rapidity  in  cities.  At  the  present  time  most  of  the  cities  in 
the  United  States  have  adopted  the  merit  system  and  made  it  a 
part  of  their  fundamental  law.  It  cannot  be  said  that  either  the 
spirit  or  the  letter  of  this  law  has  been  fully  carried  out,  but 
material  progress  has  been  made  and  large  sections  of  the  admin¬ 
istrative  service  of  cities  have  been  taken  out  of  the  spoilsman’s 
hands.  It  may,  therefore,  be  said  that  another  fundamental  in  the 
reconstruction  of  the  American  city  government  is  the  adoption 
of  the  merit  system. 


4 


Another  line  of  attack  has  been  the  centralization  of  the 
legislative  body.  For  many  years  the  bicameral  city  council 
was  commonly  found  in  American  cities.  Within  the  last  forty 
years  these  cities  have  one  by  one  discarded  the  system,  and 
Philadelphia  remains  as  the  only  conspicuous  city  in  the  country 
with  a  double-barreled  legislative  body.  Not  only  is  this  true  but 
in  many  instances  the  ward  system  has  been  abandoned  and  the 
council  chosen  at  large.  This  later  movement,  however,  has  not 
been  universally  followed.  It  cannot  be  said  to  be  a  general 
principle.  Conspicuous  exceptions  to  the  new  principle  are  found 
in  cities  like  Cleveland  and  Chicago.  It  may  fairly  be  said, 
however,  that  another  fundamental  in  the  reconstruction  of 
American  city  government  is  the  elimination  of  the  two  cham¬ 
bered  legislature. 

The  administrative  branch  of  the  municipal  government  also 
in  the  last  forty  years  has  been  concentrated.  Brooklyn’s  charter 
of  1882  and  the  Bullit  bill  in  Pennsylvania  in  1885  blazed  the 
trail.  Since  then  there  has  been  a  constant  succession  of  con¬ 
centrations  on  the  municipal  side ;  a  gradual  reorganization  of  the 
administrative  service  centering  around  the  mayor.  On  the  one 
hand,  the  mayor  has  been  given  the  power  of  appointment  and 
removal,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  number  of  departments  has 
been  simplified  and  reduced  so  that  something  approaching  a 
cabinet  type  of  administration  has  appeared.  The  scattered  dis¬ 
organized  administration  under  which  Tweed  and  his  gang 
plundered  the  city  of  New  York  is  rapidly  disappearing.  Mr. 
Nast,  the  cartoonist  in  Harper's  Weekly,  could  no  longer  pic¬ 
ture,  as  he  did  in  Tweed’s  time,  a  continuous  ring  of  adminis¬ 
trative  officials,  each  locating  the  responsibility  for  evildoing 
on  the  next. 

The  high-water  mark  for  administrative  concentration  is 
found  in  the  city-manager  plan.  The  essential  principle  of  this 
is  a  complete  concentration  of  the  administrative  authority  in  the 
hands  of  one  person,  who  is  at  the  same  time  an  appointive,  and 
presumably  non-political  administrator.  A  similar  concentration 
may  be  seen  in  the  office  of  mayor  in  many  cities ;  but  the  mayor 
is  differentiated  from  the  manager  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
he  is  an  elective  official,  while  the  manager  is  an  appointed  offi¬ 
cial  chosen  by  and  subject  to  a  commission.  It  may  fairly  be 
said,  therefore,  that  a  fundamental  in  the  reorganization  of  our 
city  government  is  the  simplification  and  concentration  of  admin¬ 
istrative  power. 


5 


A  further  type  of  concentration  is  seen  in  the  consolidation 
both  of  the  legislative  and  the  administrative  branches  in  the  com¬ 
mission  government.  Here  we  have  the  return  to  the  original 
form  of  city  government,  in  which  the  power  was  located  in  a 
unitary  body.  The  chief  difference  is  that  the  city  council  of 
1790  was  elected  by  wards,  while  the  commission  government  is 
elected  at  large.  The  adoption  of  the  commission  government 
by  between  three  and  four  hundred  cities,  including  a  population 
estimated  at  ten  millions,  is  a  striking  feature  in  the  history  of 
our  American  cities.  It  cannot  be  said,  however,  that  the  unitary 
type  of  municipal  government  has  definitely  prevailed.  Most  of 
the  larger  cities,  including  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  St.  Louis,  still  retain  the 
dual  type  of  government,  following  more  closely  the  analogy  of 
the  federal  government.  The  struggle  for  survival  seems  to  be 
between  the  unitary  type  of  government  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  dual  federal  type  of  government  on  the  other.  It  is  too  early 
to  predict  which  of  these,  if  either,  will  be  universally  adopted. 

Another  pronounced  tendency  during  the  last  forty  years 
has  been  the  effort  to  secure  continuous  control  over  the  acts 
and  agencies  of  municipal  government.  This  has  taken  the  form 
of  a  demand  for  the  initiative,  referendum,  and  recall  in  local 
matters.  Starting  with  the  referendum  on  franchises,  bond 
issues,  and  the  control  of  the  liquor  traffic,  the  referendum  has 
been  extended  to  a  wide  variety  of  measures.  Furthermore,  the 
referendum  has  been  supplemented  by  the  initiative  and  the  re¬ 
call.  The  obvious  purpose  of  all  these  measures  is  to  secure  a 
higher  degree  of  control  on  the  part  of  the  electorate  over  their 
officials  and  over  the  acts  of  their  officials.  It  cannot  yet  be  said, 
however,  that  they  have  been  generally  adopted.  Where  the 
commission  form  of  government  has  been  accepted,  they  have 
generally  been  incorporated  as  a  compromise  between  those  who 
wish  the  highest  efficiency  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  who  desire 
democratic  control  on  the  other.  In  the  New  England  and 
Eastern  states,  however,  the  initiative,  referendum,  and  recall 
have  not  progressed  so  rapidly  as  in  the  Central  and  Western 
states.  While,  therefore,  the  general  tendency  has  been  toward 
the  adoption  of  these  new  instruments  of  government,  it  can¬ 
not  yet  be  said  they  are  universally  accepted  as  fundamental  in 
the  reconstruction  of  city  government. 


6 


While  the  diagnosis  of  American  city  government  has  shown 
many  striking  defects  in  the  structure  and  form  of  the  govern¬ 
ment,  there  are  equally  important  defects  in  the  functions  of 
municipalities  escaping  notice.  The  problems  of  the  American 
city  are  not  merely  mechanical.  They  are  functional  as  well. 
The  city  must  consider  not  only  how  its  affairs  shall  be  con¬ 
ducted,  but  what  the  nature  and  scope  of  its  activity  shall  be. 
If  the  structure  of  municipal  government  is  in  need  of  funda¬ 
mental  revision,  its  activities  require  equally  thorough  re-exam¬ 
ination  and  reorganization.  It  is  the  gravest  of  errors  to  impute 
all  the  ills  of  a  municipal  body  politic  to  its  anatomy  and  to  ignore 
the  functional  disorders  that  are  not  attributable  to  the  frame¬ 
work  of  our  cities.  We  cannot  neglect  treatment  of  the  evils 
that  are  attacking  our  urban  communities.  We  cannot  pass  by 
the  proper  performance  of  city  functions  without  imperiling  the 
health  and  the  life  of  the  municipality.  Without  attempting  to 
discuss  more  than  a  few  types  of  undeveloped  functions,  at¬ 
tention  may  be  here  directed  to  the  problem. 

If  we  collect  a  large  number  of  people  upon  a  limited  area, 
we  know  in  advance  that  certain  problems  are  bound  to  rise. 
We  know  in  advance  that  unless  proper  precautions  are  taken, 
certain  disastrous  results  will  inevitably  follow.  We  know  in 
advance  that  there  will  be  a  serious  problem  of  unemployment 
in  the  city  as  distinguished  from  a  rural  district.  We  know  in 
advance  there  will  be  a  grave  problem  of  proper  housing.  We 
know  in  advance  there  will  be  a  fundamental  difficulty  with 
regard  to  children’s  play  and  adult  recreation.  We  know  in 
advance  in  an  American  city  that  serious  problems  will  arise  by 
reason  of  the  heterogeneity  of  our  population.  These  are  some 
of  the  characteristic  problems  of  the  modern  American  city. 

Unfortunately,  far  more  attention  has  been  given  to  the  me¬ 
chanism  of  government  than  to  the  actual  work  of  the  machine. 
Much  more  time  and  energy  has  been  spent  upon  the  technique 
of  the  municipal  organization  than  upon  the  vital  problems  with 
which  the  organization  must  deal.  We  have  magnified  the  means 
and  minimized  the  ends  of  municipal  government.  We  have 
not  developed  a  social  policy  or  program  in  American  cities  cor¬ 
responding  to  the  new  needs  of  our  centers  of  population. 

In  the  rural  community  relatively  few  people  are  unem¬ 
ployed.  A  man  out  of  a  job  is  conspicuous  by  his  idleness.  In 


7 


urban  centers  it  is  well  known  that  unemployment  on  a  large  scale 
is  likely  to  arise.  In  a  city  like  Chicago  there  are  from  40,000 
to  50,000  men  looking  for  employment  at  all  times,  and  in  in¬ 
dustrial  depression  this  figure  is  raised  to  100,000  or  150,000. 
Until  the  last  few  years,  however,  you  might  have  searched  the 
statutes  and  the  ordinances  of  our  cities  in  vain  for  any  recog¬ 
nition  of  the  unemployment  problem.  There  has  never  been, 
until  very  recently,  any  systematic  attempt  on  the  part  of  a 
municipality  to  deal  with  this,  the  most  serious  of  all  human 
problems.  The  difficult  task  of  securing  a  job  for  the  unemployed 
has  been  left  to  the  private  employer  or  agency,  not  infrequently 
of  a  questionable  character*  or  to  the  alderman  or  local  politician. 
The  ward  boss  has  been  glad  to  help  the  unemployed  and  to  help 
himself  in  return,  while  the  city  government  stood  by  indifferent 
and  inactive. 

Recently  urban  governments  either  independently  or  with 
the  state  and  national  government  have  undertaken  a  systematic 
program  of  securing  employment  for  the  unemployed.  We 
have  not,  it  is  true,  been  able  to  eliminate  unemployment  alto¬ 
gether,  but  we  have  put  the  problem  in  the  way  of  solution. 
Cities  begin  to  show  a  keen  interest-  in  that  element  of  their 
population  which  has  been  unable  to  fit  into  the  industrial  situa¬ 
tion.  The  failure  of  American  cities  to  deal  with  this  vital  and 
fundamental  problem  of  municipal  life  is  one  of  the  causes  of 
the  failure  of  government.  And  fundamentally,  therefore,  in  the 
reconstruction  of  American  city  government,  there  must  be  the 
formulation  and  execution  of  plans  for  aiding  the  unemployed. 

It  is  known  in  advance  that  housing  conditions  in  urban 
communities  will  defy  the  requirements  of  public  sanitation  un¬ 
less  extraordinary  precautions  are  taken.  We  know  in  advance 
that  the  death-rate,  the  infant-mortality  rate  and  the  disease-rate 
will  mount  to  appalling  figures  unless  the  community  intervenes. 
We  know  we  cannot  rely  wholly  upon  the  patriotism  of  the  land- 
owner  to  prevent  the  use  of  his  land  for  structures  that  are  unfit 
for  human  beings.  We  have  permitted  conditions  to  develop, 
particularly  in  our  larger  cities,  that  are  a  disgrace  to  the  human 
race. 

It  is  true  that  building  codes  have  been  enacted  in  practically 
every  large  city,  but  in  the  early  days  these  covered  only  the 
simpler  safeguards  against  fire  hazard  and  structural  insecurity. 


8 


Until  recently  there  has  been  no  organized  effort  to  face  squarely 
the  awful  toll  taken  by  death  and  disease  in  the  crowded  tene¬ 
ments  of  our  great  communities  and  in  the  insanitary  shacks  of 
the  smaller  towns.  Yet,  here  we  have  one  of  the  characteristic 
problems  of  the  community,  one  of  the  situations  that  arises 
out  of  the  nature  of  a  city  as  inevitably  as  any  other  phenomenon 
in  the  world  of  cause  and  effect.  Social  surveys  in  the  last  few 
years  have  begun  to  turn  the  light  on  the  distressing  conditions 
that  prevail,  and  an  organized  movement  is  now  under  way  to 
make  more  endurable  the  conditions  under  which  most  of  our 
people  in  our  large  cities  spend  their  years.  It  is  not  to  be 
assumed,  however,  that  any  such  plan  has  been  carried  through. 
And  it  must  be  recognized  that  conditions  under  which  large 
numbers  of  people  live  in  congested  centers  has  never  been 
equalled  for  discomfort  since  the  birth  of  the  human  race.  A 
fundamental,  therefore,  in  the  reconstruction  of  American  city 
government  is  the  creation  of  conditions  under  which  light,  air, 
sunshine,  and  reasonably  comfortable  surroundings  are  made  the 
right  of  every  citizen.  The  adoption  of  systematic  city-planning 
and  the  establishment  of  a  zoning  plan  are  essential  to  the  proper 
development  of  urban  living  conditions,  and  are  integral  parts 
of  any  comprehensive  program. 

It  is  known  in  advance  that  the  building  of  a  modern  city 
will  destroy  the  play  facilities  of  a  child  and  precipitate  grave 
problems  of  adult  recreation.  About  one-half  of  the  population 
of  the  city  is  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Yet  the  structure 
of  the  modern  city  automatically  eliminates  the  recreation  facili¬ 
ties  of  the  child  and  the  youth.  Cities  have  been  raised  on  the 
theory  that  there  were  no  children,  or  that  there  was  no  neces¬ 
sity  for  making  any  special  provision  for  them  under  special 
conditions.  The  result  has  been  death,  disease,  vice,  and  crime. 
All  the  leading  authorities  recognise  that  juvenile  delinquency  is 
the  great  unsolved  problem  of  modern  criminology.  It  is  only, 
however,  within  the  last  few  years  that  any  systematic  attempts 
have  been  made  to  reorganize  the  play  facilities  of  the  modern 
municipality. 

The  large  parks  provided  for  a  generation  ago  were,  as  a 
rule,  inaccessible  to  the  great  masses  of  the  community  and 
served  no  real  purpose  so  far  as  the  great  and  growing  democracy 
of  the  city  was  concerned.  The  creation  of  small  parks  dn  con¬ 
gested  centers  is  a  long-  step  forward  toward  the  recognition  of 


9 


the  rights  of  the  child.  Statistics  show  that  the  rate  of  juvenile 
delinquency  diminishes  directly  and  perceptibly  within  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  the  playgrounds. 

Recreation  facilities  of  adults  have  been  left,  to  a  large 
extent,  unorganized  and  uncontrolled.  A  few  elementary  pro¬ 
visions  were  made  in  the  city  ordinances  for  the  prohibition  of 
immoral  or  obscene  exhibitions,  but  no  constructive  effort  has 
been  made  until  recent  years  to  organize  adult  recreation.  Not¬ 
withstanding  the  fact  that  this  was  one  of  the  characteristic  prob¬ 
lems  of  an  urban  community,  the  work  of  recreation  was  left 
largely  to  those  who  organized  and  commercialized  amusements. 
In  some  instances  their  task  was  well  done,  but  much  of  the 
recreation  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  organized  vice  trust,  the  dis¬ 
orderly  saloon,  and  the  cheap  theater  of  questionable  character. 
The  modern  movement  for  the  organized  neighborhood  centers, 
neighborhood  clubs,  community  facilities  for  assembling  and  or¬ 
ganization  is  one  of  the  most  notable  steps  in  the  recent  history 
of  American  cities.  It  is  a  recognition  of  the  duty  of  the  city  to 
deal  with  the  big  problems  of  the  community.  The  organization 
of  play  facilities  for  children  and  recreation  facilities  for  adults 
must  therefore  be  set  down  as  one  of  the  fundamentals  in  the 
reconstruction  of  American  city  government. 

The  most  striking  characteristic  of  all  in  the  American  city 
is  the  complexity  of  our  population.  We  have  brought  together 
nationalities  from  all  parts  of  Europe  and  are  blending  them 
into  a  composite  race.  Notwithstanding  the  fact,  however,  that 
it  is  known  in  advance  that  the  population  of  an  American  city 
will  be  from  one-half  to  two-thirds  of  foreign  extraction,  no 
recognition  of  this  fact  has  been  made  by  cities  and  no  attempt 
to  form  a  program  corresponding  to  the  needs.  Immigrants  are 
in  many  cases  exploited  and  robbed  before  they  reach  the  city. 
They  are  not  assisted  in  finding  lodging,  or  in  finding  employ¬ 
ment,  or  protection  in  the  police  court,  nor  does  the  municipality 
in  any  way  at  any  time  extend  to  them  a  friendly  hand.  This 
work  again  has  been  left  to  the  local  politician,  and  the  political 
boss  who  has  undertaken  to  assist  the  immigrant  and  at  the 
same  time  to  exploit  him.  If  it  is  a  fact  that  the  most  striking 
characteristic  of  our  population  is  its  heterogeneity,  then  there  is 
a  corresponding  duty  upon  the  community  and  the  govermnent 
representing  it  to  deal  directly  with  this  fundamental  question. 
You  might  search  in  vain,  however,  the  records  of  most  Ameri- 


10 


can  cities  for  statutes  or  ordinances  in  any  way  recognizing  the 
peculiar  composition  of  the  population  of  the  city.  No  attempt 
is  made  to  welcome  the  immigrant.  No  attempt  is  made  to  secure 
his  employment.  He  may  be  tried  before  courts  in  which  his  lan¬ 
guage  is  not  understood,  and  in  many  other  ways  be  left  unpro¬ 
tected  by  the  community  in  which  he  has  sought  a  home.  Schools 
alone  in  our  municipal  governments  have  stood  out  as  mediating 
agents,  teaching  the  stranger  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizenship 
and  weaving  his  life  into  the  life  of  the  new  state  or  city.  Out¬ 
side  of  the  schools,  the  politics  of  the  municipality  has  taught 
him  privilege,  graft,  and  low  standards  of  government.  A 
fundamental  in  the  reconstruction  of  our  American  city  is  there¬ 
fore  a  constructive  program  appropriate  to  the  complex  char¬ 
acter  of  our  urban  community. 

Our  cities  need  simpler  devices  of  government  in  which 
power  and  responsibility  are  more  definitely  located.  They  need 
forms  of  election  machinery  as  nearly  proof  as  possible  against 
the  national  party  and  the  local  boss.  They  need  broader  powers 
of  local  self-government  over  affairs  that  are  primarily  local. 
They  need  a  scope  of  city  activity  equal  in  area  to  the  new  and 
grave  responsibilities  arising  out  of  urban  life.  But  beyond 
this,  we  require  the  vision  to  discern,  the  will  to  demand,  the 
statesmanship  to  shape  and  execute  in  policy  and  administration 
the  urgent  need  for  broader  and  deeper  social  policies.  We 
need  to  reshape  the  rights  of  man  to  modern  city  conditions 
so  that  they  may  include  the  right  to  light,  air  and  sunshine, 
the  right  to  labor  and  live  under  clean  and  wholesome  sur¬ 
roundings  ;  the  children’s  right  to  play  and  the  adult’s  right 
to  recreation ;  the  right  of  the  stranger  within  our  gates  to  a 
cordial  reception  into  the  community  he  has  crossed  the  ocean 
to  find ;  the  right  of,  and  a  place  for,  neighbors  to  assemble  and 
to  discuss  the  problems  of  their  common  life. 

More  than  all  this  we  need  a  spirit  of  civic  sacrifice  and 
devotion  akin  to  what  we  call  patriotism  in  the  national  field. 
Cities,  like  nations,  are  not  built  upon  selfish  economic  interests 
alone.  They  arise  upon  the  ruins  of  lives  surrendered  for  the 
greater  cause.  They  spring  from  the  unselfish  and  unrewarded 
work  of  many  men  and  women.  They  are  built  by  a  great 
community  of  effort  nobly  directed  toward  a  common  end.  Na¬ 
tions  summon  their  hosts  to  the  dramatic  sacrifice  of  war. 
Cities  are  built  by  the  silent  daily  offerings  unheralded  and  un¬ 
known,  whose  total  efforts  raise  the  structure  of  the  community. 


11 


In  the  tumult  of  the  struggle  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the 
goal.  From  time  to  time  we  must  lift  up  our  eyes  to  see  where 
we  are  moving.  We  may  see  a  city  where  graft  and  greed 
have  been  lead  captive,  where  privilege  and  its  shadow,  poverty, 
have  been  driven  out  through  the  city’s  gates.  We  may  see  a 
city  where  the  public  interest  sits  firmly  on  the  throne,  supreme 
over  private  interest  and  privilege.  We  may  see  a  city  where 
the  sinister  system  linking  the  machine  of  the  boss  with  the 
predatory  public  utility  and  the  hideous  gangs  who  trade  in  vice 
and  crime  is  shattered  and  dispersed ;  where  the  machinery  and 
tools  of  government  that  do  the  people’s  will  shall  be  sharp  and 
bright  and  clean,  adapted  to  the  work  they  must  do ;  where  the 
range  and  scope  of  the  city’s  power  shall  cover  the  range  and 
scope  of  our  local  human  needs ;  where  men  and  women  shall 
share  alike  the  grave  responsibilities  of  governing  their  common 
affairs ;  where  the  acts  and  agents  of  government  shall  always  be 
subject  to  the  people’s  will;  where  the  level  of  honesty  and 
efficiency  in  public  affairs  shall  reflect  the  highest  standards  of 
the  community  and  not  its  lowest ;  where  public  pay-rolls  and 
purchases  serve  the  public  and  not  a  party  faction  or  a  person ; 
where  the  hand  of  the  government  reaches  out  to  help  the  com¬ 
mon  needs  of  all  its  citizens ;  where  preventive  steps  are  sub¬ 
stituted  for  and  take  the  place  of  punishment;  where  expendi¬ 
tures  for  public  schools  and  parks  and  social  centers,  public 
sanitation  and  public  welfare  in  great  measure  take  the  place  of 
money  spent  for  police  and  jails;  where  every  child  has  a  place 
to  play,  a  seat  in  the  school  and  a  library  near ;  where  the  physical 
plan  of  the  city  is  determined  by  reason  and  art  rather  than 
by  chance  or  speculation ;  where  every  man,  woman  and  child 
lives  and  works  under  life  surroundings  that  do  honor  to  the 
human  race ;  where  art  and  music  and  all  types  of  civic  grace 
and  beauty  lift  up  their  heads  under  the  kindly  patronage  of  the 
community ;  where  the  rights  of  persons  are  not  forgotten  in  the 
facts  of  property ;  where  the  public  utilities  serve  the  public 
and  are  useful  for  public  service  rather  than  for  private  ex¬ 
ploitation  ;  where  there  is  a  kindly  toleration  of  races,  religions 
and  classes  in  recognition  of  the  great  values  that  underlie 
them  all ;  where  the  city  hall  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  temple  of 
justice,  a  center  of  common  interest,  a  symbol  of  our  common 
hope ;  where  the  soul  and  the  spirit  of  the  multitude  who  make 
the  city  shine  out  in  civic  policies  and  deeds  reflecting  the  truth, 
the  justice,  the  wisdom  and  the  ideals  of  the  community.  * 


12 


Upon  details  of  form  and  function  we  may  differ,  but  upon 
the  principles  and  spirit  in  which  the  new  city  shall  be  built, 
those  citizens  to  whom  the  public  interest  is  paramount  may 
well  agree.  Indeed,  the  price  of  their  success  is  agreement  upon 
principles  and  policies  coupled  with  a  practical  program  of  or¬ 
ganization  and  effective  action,  so  that  high  ideals  may  be 
translated  into  practical  achievements. 

The  obligations  of  citizenship  are  particularly  strong  upon 
those  of  wealth  and  education.  They  have  received  much  from 
the  community,  and  from  them  much  is  due.  It  is  true  that  we 
are  all  children  of  sacrifice.  For  each  of  us  some  mother  has 
gone  down  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death ;  infinite  pa¬ 
tience  has  cradled  and  cherished  us ;  has  taught  the  wayward 
feet  to  walk ;  “through  the  power  of  mimicry  beguiled  our  lips  to 
speech/’  The  labor  and  care  of  others  have  been  our  guides. 
But  in  a  particular  sense  some  are  social  debtors,  for  the  hoard¬ 
ings  of  society  have  been  lavished  upon  them  in  the  most  liberal 
measure.  These  opportunities  have  been  given  by  society  for  its 
own  protection  and  welfare, — for  the  advancement  of  the  com¬ 
mon  good. 

The  first  criminal  of  history  before  the  bar  of  justice,  made 
the  plea,  “Am  I  my  brother’s  keeper?”  This  first  defense  of 
red-handed  murder  has  been  echoed  and  re-echoed  in  palliation 
of  a  million  other  crimes,  whose  perpetrators  lived  and  died  un¬ 
branded.  Ancient  wrong  was  built  upon  this  principle,  and 
slavery  and  special  privilege  have  graven  it  upon  their  corner¬ 
stones. 

Let  me  leave  you  another  phrase,  symbolic  of  struggle  and 
sacrifice,  sweeping  the  field  of  social  and  political  obligation: 
“None  of  us  liveth  unto  himself.”  We  are  trustees  of  an  in¬ 
heritance  of  dearly  bought  human  experience.  May  we  use  it 
to  serve  the  democracy  that  gave  it,  to  protect  and  promote  the 
interest  of  society  from  which  it  came,  to  make  democracy  and 
liberty  facts  in  the  life  and  labor  of  men. 

/  u 


13 


PUBLICATIONS 


Truancy  and  Non-Attendance  in  the  Chicago  Schools:  A  Study  of 
the  Social  Aspects  of  the  Compulsory  Education  and  Child  La¬ 
bor  Legislation  of  Illinois.  By  Edith  Abbott  and  Sophonisba  P. 
Breckinridge,  xiii,  472  pages.  $2.00  (University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1917). 

The  Delinquent  Child  and  the  Home:  A  Study  of  the  Delinquent 
Wards  of  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Chicago.  By  Sophonisba  P. 
Breckinridge  and  Edith  Abbott.  360  pages.  $2.00  (Russell  Sage 
Foundation  Publication.) 

The  Child  in  the  City:  A  Series  of  Papers  presented  during  the  Con¬ 
ferences  held  at  the  Chicago  Child  Welfare  Exhibit.  Edited  by 
Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge.  502  pages.  $1.00  (Chicago  School 
of  Civics  and  Philanthropy). 

The  Charity  Visitor:  A  Handbook  for  Beginners.  By  Amelia  Sears. 
New  and  revised  edition  with  a  chapter  on  “Estimating  a  Fam¬ 
ily  Budget,”  by  Florence  Nesbitt.  69  pages.  50  cents  (Chicago 
School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy). 

A  Handbook  for  the  Women  Voters  of  Illinois.  By  Alice  Greenacre. 
Edited  by  Sophonisba  P.  Breckinridge.  128  pages,  maps.  50 
cents  (Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy). 

The  Housing  Problem  in  Chicago:  Edited  by  Sophonisba  P.  Breck¬ 
inridge  and  Edith  Abbott.  A  series  of  ten  pamphlets  dealing 
with  results  of  a  recent  investigation.  Numbers  1  to  3,  6  and  7 
are  out  of  print.  Set  of  remaining  five  numbers,  35  cents,  post¬ 
paid  (Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy). 


RECREATION  DEPARTMENT 

Plays  for  Children:  Edited  by  Mrs.  Gudrun  Thorne-Thomsen.  No.  1. 
The  Princess  Whom  No  One  Could  Silence  (5  cents);  No.  2. 
Saddle  to  Rags  (10  cents);  No.  3.  A  Tramp  and  a  Night’s  Lodg¬ 
ing  (10  cents);  No.  4.  Robin  Hood  (20  cents). 

Danish  Folk  Dances:  Description  of  Folk  Dances.  Translated  by 
Viggo  Bovbjerg.  50  cents. 

Music  for  Danish  Folk  Dances.  75  cents. 

Folk  Dances  of  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  By  Anna  Spacek  and  Neva 
L.  Boyd.  $1.00  (postage  4  cents  extra).  (Saul  Brothers,  Chi¬ 
cago,  1917). 


Chicago  School  of  Civics  and  Philanthropy 
2559  So.  Michigan  Avenue,  Chicago 


14 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBAN  A 


3  0112  072584417 


CHICAGO  SCHOOL  OF 
CIVICS  AND  PHILANTHROPY 

Fifteenth  year  opened  October  1,  1917 
Winter  term  begins  January  2,  1918 

GENERAL  TRAINING  COURSE  FOR  SOCIAL  WORKERS 

One-year  course  for  college  graduates.  Two-year  course  for  other 

qualified  students. 

SPECIAL  PLAYGROUND  COURSE 

With  technical  classes,  at  Hull-House  Gymnasium,  in  folk  dancing 
games,  story-telling,  dramatics,  preparation  of 
pageants  and  gymnastics. 

SPECIAL  COURSE  FOR  PUBLIC  HEALTH  NURSES 

March  4  to  June  25 

SPECIAL  COURSE  IN  CURATIVE  OCCUPATIONS 
AND  RECREATION 

(In  co-operation  with  the  Illinois  Society  for  Mental  Hygiene) 

Dealing  with  the  problem  of  re-education  of  the  physically  sick,  the 
mentally  disturbed,  and  the  wounded  and  handicapped  soldier. 

January  2nd  to  June  7th. 


For  further  information  address  the  Dean,  2559  Michigan  Ave.,  Chicago 


